


Mutually Beneficial

by NotAMuggleMiss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cedric Diggory Lives, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotAMuggleMiss/pseuds/NotAMuggleMiss
Summary: The arrangement worked for both of them. Maybe it worked a little too well.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Pansy Parkinson
Comments: 12
Kudos: 28
Collections: Dumbledore's Armada: Wheel of Death Flash Fiction Comp





	Mutually Beneficial

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Wheel of Death Flash Fiction Comp hosted by Frumpologist in Dumbledore's Armada Discord Server. 
> 
> My chosen character was Pansy Parkinson. 
> 
> My Wheel of Death prompts were  
> Character: Cedric Diggory,  
> Trope: Fake Dating,  
> Theme: Suffering,  
> Quote: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. 
> 
> I’d like to thank my alpha/beta, iwasbotwp for her time and constant good advice and encouragement.

Cedric Diggory had never considered himself the kind of man who would need a fake girlfriend. He wasn’t usually one to extoll his own virtues, but he was respectful, kind, well-mannered, moderately intelligent, and at least reasonably attractive if the constant reactions of the witches around him were anything to go by. Then again, perhaps those were the qualities that had gotten him into this conundrum in the first place. 

Ever since his brush with death, he had had somewhat of a cult following among the female population of wizarding Britain. Unfortunately for him, they weren’t the kind of women he was interested in being pursued by. It didn’t seem to matter how many times he explained that he really hadn’t done anything at all, besides benefiting from the indisputable fact that Peter Pettigrew was a coward who couldn’t bring himself to cast an Avada and thought nobody would notice when he sent a stunner instead. They still flocked to him and  _ fawned  _ on him endlessly. He couldn’t seem to land a date with anyone who wasn’t as dull as they were...well, unintelligent seemed like an unkind thing to say, but they certainly weren’t on his level when it came to stimulating conversation.

That wouldn’t have been much of a problem, in itself, if it weren’t for the pesky issue of familial expectations. His father was a good man, honestly, but nobody would ever argue that Amos Diggory wasn’t also a tad overbearing. When his only son had been nearing the ripe old age of twenty-seven, Amos had become nearly unbearable. Cedric had had to suffer his lectures on the importance of his duty to his household at least daily for months on end before finally caving and begging Hermione to forgive his earlier arrogance and help him. 

She had told him, upon first hearing of the parental pressure he was facing, that she had another friend in a similar situation and that he should consider meeting her. He had assumed at the time that she was trying to set him up, which given his current predicament he still hadn’t entirely ruled out, and he had told her he could handle the situation just fine on his own. Until he couldn’t. Hermione had eventually convinced him that she simply thought he and her friend could work out an arrangement that could be mutually beneficial to both of them. 

Pansy Parkinson hadn’t been quite who he had had in mind, if he was entirely honest. She was a little too loud, a little too brash, and entirely too bossy. From the looks of shock his father had thrown their way upon meeting her, she hadn’t been quite what the man had in mind either, though he had eventually conceded that he wouldn’t ever stand in the way of Cedric’s happiness. His son still caught him wrinkling his nose in distaste whenever she said anything acerbic or uncouth. 

He eventually found, over time, that she wasn’t exactly  _ not _ his type. After a few months of pretending to date, they had both found neither had time left over to indulge their physical urges elsewhere. They had become good friends by then, adding the occasional tryst had been very natural. It turned out Cedric quite enjoyed being bossed around a little, among other things. And that was precisely the problem he found himself with now. 

Because they had spent over two years faking a relationship and not quite faking their chemistry; his father was beginning to expect a proposal. This should have been his cue to break things off and count his lucky stars that their ruse had bought him a modicum of peace and quiet. But he found himself not entirely averse to the idea of marrying the woman in question; he had grown rather attached to her, both in and out of bed. In fact, he was currently being forced to grapple with the idea that he had, inconveniently, fallen in love with her. 

* * *

Pansy Parkinson was a pragmatic sort of person. It had taken her all of five minutes to work out that the solution Granger had presented to her, probably after growing tired of all the complaints about her mother, would serve her well, at least in the short-term. It wasn’t much of a choice compared to her mother’s incessant nagging about finding herself a good match before all the desirable young men were taken. 

The truth was, she had no intention to ever snag herself the kind of husband her mother wanted for her. She also knew she was far from the kind of wife that most wizards in their pureblood circle were looking for. She certainly wasn’t quiet enough, and her disregard for the usual rules of etiquette had a tendency to get her in trouble with the so-called elite of British Wizarding society. Not that she was in any way bothered by her reputation, but when others seemed scandalized on her behalf, she just parroted some Muggle quote Granger had once thrown at her about well-behaved women seldom making history and it seemed to placate them. 

Cedric Diggory had not been anything like the men she was accustomed to dating. For one thing, he was disturbingly nice. But he was also charming, funny, and sincere. He was precisely the kind of man she would usually have turned up her nose at, but he had been amenable to her terms and it seemed the situation they had crafted was beneficial to both of them. That had been enough at the time.

They had set rules and boundaries to their farce of a relationship, of course: what kinds of displays of affection were permitted or expected in public, with friends, and with family. They had also discussed at length how much time they would need to spend together in order to convincingly appear as a couple in two pureblood families’ social calendars. What Pansy hadn’t counted on was how much she might actually enjoy spending time with him. The more she got to know him, the more she wanted to discard those original rules and boundaries altogether. Their physical relationship had perhaps been the tipping point, as he was terribly attractive. Not to mention that she had simply  _ wanted _ to sleep with him, and what Pansy wanted, she usually got. It certainly beat staying celibate for the sake of a ruse.

Her mother had adored him, of course, seeing as he was polite, handsome, and gave every indication that he adored her while still adhering to the rules of propriety. Her mother’s approval would normally have been a deterrent, except that she couldn’t help but admit that she also found Cedric rather refreshing. Two years was a long time to spend with another person and she found as time went on that the affection she displayed for the man beside her no longer had to be faked. 

In a panic-inducing moment of clarity, she had recently come to the realization that she genuinely had feelings for him, which was certainly a problem since Cedric was only pretending to be madly in love with her. To make matters worse, her mother had started asking her if she expected a proposal to be forthcoming, which meant his father was certainly interrogating him along the same lines. She knew this meant he was likely to break things off in the near future, because there was only so far they could play this out this ruse, and an engagement wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

The very idea of no longer having him in her life left her feeling despondent, but she couldn’t see how it could possibly be avoided, short of confessing her feelings to him at the risk of having her  poor heart stomped on. It was too late to stop it from being broken to pieces . All her concerns seemed to converge on the invitation she had received tonight, wherein Cedric had invited her to dinner with him  _ in private. _ Nearly every single one of their previous dates had been in public or before an audience as they were always meant to serve their original purpose. Their physical relationship had rarely been the kind to include a private meal, before or after. And so she had come to the conclusion that he was about to break up with her and had done his best to preserve her dignity in the process.

She was resigned—there was really nothing for it. She picked up her handbag and headed through the Floo to the Diggory Estate.

* * *

Cedric watched Pansy step out of the Floo into his family’s reception room. He wordlessly offered his arm to her and when she took it, he Apparated them both to a remote area of the gardens where he had already set up a picnic.

Leading her to the large blanket spread out on a gentle slope, he watched her gently lower herself to the ground before dropping gracelessly beside her.

“Pansy, we need to talk.” 

She looked down at her hands before she spoke.

“I figured as much,” she said softly.

“It’s just that, my father is starting to expect an engagement...there’s only so long I can pretend it’s too soon,” he forged ahead awkwardly. “I’m sure your mother must be hinting as well by now…”

Pansy nodded. Cedric couldn’t help but notice how lovely she looked in the sundress she was wearing, which was pale blue and peppered with little white flowers. Her complexion seemed to shine in the fading light of the sunset, and yet the expression on her face would have easily fit in at a funeral. Seeing his own emotions painted on her face bolstered his courage.

“I know we agreed that we would end things when it came to this. But what if my feelings on the matter have changed?” he ventured. Nothing wagered, nothing gained, after all.

Brown eyes looked up at him in surprise, though he was delighted to note she seemed to find the surprise a pleasant one.

“You mean you want to get engaged?” she asked with a hesitation in her voice.

“Well, yes. And married, eventually. Because I’ve grown rather fond of you, Pansy, and I’ve always enjoyed our time together. I think I might continue to enjoy our time together for a lifetime. If you wanted to, that is.” Cedric blushed crimson but held her gaze.

Pansy sat agape for several moments before abruptly closing her mouth with a snap.

“Have you just proposed to me, Cedric?”

“I think so?” he answered, smiling shyly.

“Then, I accept,” Pansy stated. And then she grinned. 

“Even if you have to suffer my father’s incessant badgering about heirs in a year or two?”

“Even so. But you’ll have to suffer my mother’s nattering about grandbabies before then, I believe,” she retorted.

“We’ll suffer together then,” he replied cheerfully. “No more pretending?”

“No more pretending,” she agreed. “But a ring would be nice. And a proper kiss for your betrothed.”

“You can have as many of those as you like, love,” he vowed sincerely.

“I like the sound of that.”


End file.
